Arsenal ace: Henry was my inspiration but Chelsea hero an idol

Arsenal striker Yaya Sanogo is a player who has despite his young age been compared to Thierry Henry, but this is as much to do with his career path and background as any other reason.

Sanogo is young French striker who grew up in the same neighbourhood as Henry, who is now playing for the club where the former has a statue outside the stadium, and is Arsenal's record goalscorer.

He is most certainly an inspiration, as Sanogo explained to Arsenal.com: "I grew up watching him and he made me dream. He was incredible.

"We come from the same town, Les Ulis, in the outskirts of Paris, and he was always an example for me. Following in his footsteps and coming here was always a dream for me. More than a dream, it was an objective."

Now Sanogo has achieved that dream, it is all about kicking on, and he is still waiting for his first goal for the club.

The 21-year-old goes onto admit that it is not really Henry whose game he models his own on, describing a legend at another London club as his inspiration, Didier Drogba, as well as George Weah, who also played briefly for the Blues.

"I loved George Weah who played for Monaco, PSG and then AC Milan and others. He was such a great striker. He was my idol.

"I was modelling my game more on Didier Drogba though. Some people in France compared me a lot with Adebayor but Drogba was really an example for me."

It remains to be seen whether Sanogo will ever be a top level striker, it's just too early to say, but he is at a great club to progress, and should he combine the best aspects of Henry's and Drogba's games - he will be a very scary opposition for defences as his career moves forward.

Dan Coombs

Dan Coombs has been writing for HITC Sport full time since 2012 and has helped the website grow it's audience considerably during this period, while managing a team of writers. He has interviewed high profile names including Stuart Pearce and his work has been cited in Javier Hernandez's biography. In addition to football, Dan is a big fan of the NFL and NBA.